Fighting a condition that rapidly ages the body so much faster than the rest of us. Today, we learned that sam berns has died. But not before defying the odds and teaching us all about living. He allowed cameras to capture that sleepy walk down the hallway first thing in the morning. Can you hold my book while i brush my teeth? Reporter: But for sam, there was more. The medicine trying to slow down the aging. Sam has progeria, the disease that ages children far faster than the rest of us. Fewer than 250 children in the world with it. A hug at the school bus. About to start her day, too. A doctor, who now spends her every waking moment searching for a cure. And you say about your mom, she doesn't have a normal job? Yeah. I kind of just want my mom to be done with progeria. For her sake, my mom will keep working until progeria is cured. Reporter: At school, he was always just sam. No one looked at his hands or his legs. Thooked to sam for help. I got it. I was really confused. Tell me your equation. Reporter: You're in math class. Yeah. Reporter: I love it how you had to turn around and help the guy behind you. Keep subtracting three to make it easier on yourself. I'm sure there was some simple math going on there. But I just think I was trying to help out. Reporter: Through the years, as sam engineered his own inventions, his mother was engineering something else. Putting together a group of scientists, researchers. And they made a bold discovery. Your team discovered the gene? Yes. Reporter: Just another day at work for mom. It was great. Reporter: And along with that gene, an normal protein in children, like sam. We all hahe protein. But they're teeming with it. And it accelerates everything. Reporter: Hoping to slow it down, her team developing the first drug, the first trials. And the results showing promise. Slowing the progression. Doctors once told them children like sam lived until about 13. We were with him, just days before his most recent birthday. Sam lived to 17. Tonight, we learned there will be a moment of silence before the new england patriots play, in honor of sam. We'll never forget, sam and his parents, and their lesson for all of us. You bee so many of us take time for granted. Every time I see sam, sort of a moment, he gets off the bus. It's a moment. And I treasure it. There's a lot going on around us that you can easily miss. I really think that, you know, I lucked out on the parent lottery. We lucked out on the son lottery. And we lucked out meeting sam.

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